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Summary
Summary
In this luminous picture book adaptation of Charles Dickens' immortal classic, the story of Ebenezer Scrooge leaps off the page to warm the soul of one and all. Be swept away in an unforgettable Christmas Eve, from Scrooge's first "Bah, humbug!" to the arrival of the Ghost of Christmas Past; from the courage of Tiny Tim to the glory of Christmas morning. Brett Helquist's art bursts with spirit, humor, and an irresistible attention to detail. Here is a treasure for the whole family to share, year after year. A merry Christmas, everyone!
Author Notes
Charles Dickens, perhaps the best British novelist of the Victorian era, was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England on February 7, 1812. His happy early childhood was interrupted when his father was sent to debtors' prison, and young Dickens had to go to work in a factory at age twelve. Later, he took jobs as an office boy and journalist before publishing essays and stories in the 1830s.
His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, made him a famous and popular author at the age of twenty-five. Subsequent works were published serially in periodicals and cemented his reputation as a master of colorful characterization, and as a harsh critic of social evils and corrupt institutions. His many books include Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations, Little Dorrit, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities.
Dickens married Catherine Hogarth in 1836, and the couple had nine children before separating in 1858 when he began a long affair with Ellen Ternan, a young actress. Despite the scandal, Dickens remained a public figure, appearing often to read his fiction. He died in 1870, leaving his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Helquist's vision of the classic story depicts a hawkish Scrooge (who's a cadaverous shade of green) against a backdrop of bustling Victorian streets, with pleasing touches of detail, humor and a few frightful strokes. When the clock strikes one, announcing the arrival of the first ghost, the moon hangs in an unholy green sky, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come stands in a tattered cloak, surrounded by eddying mists (but also draped with strings of Christmas lights). The eye-catching art makes a strong pairing to the accessible abridgment of Dickens's text. Ages 5-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Pairing a text shortened enough to be read in a single session with gasp-inducing illustrations, this rendition of the classic tale is well suited for reading aloud to younger audiences. Opening with an attention-getting MARLEY WAS DEAD in block letters, the narrative moves forward without long-winded descriptive passages and inessential details but with the original's sonorous tone intact: The Spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its hand. The illustrations follow suit with full-page or full-spread scenes of a pared-down human cast in carefully drawn Victorian settings, led by a silver-haired Scrooge whose scowl and sharply chiseled nose perfectly capture his ill humor. The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and To Come are particularly notable presences (the last could double as a Dementor), appearing suddenly and towering over the terrified miser as they guide him through what was, is, and very well could be unless he mends his ways. Which he does, of course, and is last seen happily squiring the newly nimble Tiny Tim and an unnamed Cratchit daughter home.--Peters, John Copyright 2009 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-Who better than the illustrator of Lemony Snicket's Dickensian "A Series of Unfortunate Events" to present the master's timeless tale in a picture book? Helquist's composition draws readers' eyes to Scrooge on every page, often crafting the mood of the tale through the expressions on Ebenezer's oversize features. An abridged text renders the tale accessible to a younger audience. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Guardian Review
A Christmas Carol has been described as the most perfect of Dickens's works and as a quintessential heart-warming story, and it is certainly the most popular. It's a ghost story with a moral, a message of hope, good cheer and Christian redemption, and an assertion of the value of the Christmas festival when families get together for feasting, and quarrels are made up. At the end of the tale, a sick child who seemed destined to die is cured, and a bad man turns over a new leaf and becomes generous and affectionate. Good triumphs over evil, good-heartedness and good cheer over poverty and misery. Yet two terrifying children who have been introduced into the story are left at the end, their fates unresolved, to haunt us. It was written in the autumn of 1843, during the hungry 40s, a prolonged period of depression and unemployment. Dickens was busy writing a novel, Martin Chuzzlewit, which was not selling well in serial form. He was also interesting himself in the condition of the country. He visited a ragged school, which offered basic education to street children - children with no parents, or neglectful ones, filthy children who sometimes missed lessons because they had been in prison, pickpockets, prostitutes - and he urged his rich friend Miss Coutts to support such schools. He spoke in support of the Mechanics' Institutes in the great industrial towns, set up to offer male and female workers libraries, lectures and some access to further education. He reacted with horror to the facts revealed in the report of the Children's Employment Commission, and planned "a very cheap pamphlet, called 'An Appeal to the People of England, on behalf of the Poor Man's Child'." The pamphlet was not written - instead he produced A Christmas Carol In it, Scrooge, a London businessman, stands for the rich, and at the start of the story he is approached and asked to make a Christmas donation for the poor suffering in the depression. He refuses rudely, on the grounds that the state provides for them: "Are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons?" And he grumbles that his poor clerk, Bob Cratchit, who has many children, expects a day off for Christmas. Scrooge is then suddenly drawn into a magical world of ghosts and spirits, described with all Dickens's exuberant imagination. John Sutherland has pointed out the many illogicalities of the narrative, but most readers travel happily and unquestioningly through time and space with Scrooge as he revisits his own past and sees the struggles of the Cratchit family and their delicate youngest boy, Tiny Tim. The Spirit of Christmas Past carries Scrooge back to his unhappy boyhood, when his neglectful parents left him at boarding school through the holidays, and at once he is softened: he pities the child he was, says, "Poor boy," weeps, and is already a changed character, ready to love his fellow men. Still, he is taken in hand by further spirits, and given a sharp political lesson by the Spirit of Christmas Present, who produces two children from under his cloak. They are a boy and girl, "meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish . . . where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked". Scrooge asks, "Are they yours?" "'They are Man's,' the Spirit answered. 'This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both . . . but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is doom.'" Scrooge is so troubled by this that he asks, "Have they no refuge or resource?" And the Spirit answers him chillingly with his own words, "Are there no prisons? . . . Are there no workhouses?" To me this is the best moment in A Christmas Carol, as Dickens sends a resounding message to the governing powers of his day (and, we may add, to our times, when one child in six leaves school unable to read fluently). The Spirit disappears and Scrooge's re-education continues. He becomes generous to the Cratchit family, and Tiny Tim, instead of dying as was predicted, recovers. Scrooge laughs and smiles, feels the joy of giving, and celebrates Christmas cheerfully thereafter. Nothing more is heard of the wolfish children. As Dickens devised his story, he "wept, and laughed, and wept again, and excited himself in the most extraordinary manner", walking about the London streets by night. He commissioned coloured illustrations and insisted on his publishers making it a beautiful book, with gilt lettering on the cover. It was greeted with rapturous approval. Lord Jeffrey wrote that Dickens had done more good by it than "all the pulpits and confessionals in Christendom". Thackeray described it in print as "a national benefit, and to every man or woman who reads it a personal kindness". This is how it has been seen ever since. Its message gives comfort and joy. But we still need to think about the wolfish children. Next week John Mullan will be looking at readers' responses. Sponsors of the Guardian's book club - Claire Tomalin Caption: Captions: To order a copy of A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings for pounds 8.99 with free UK p&p call Guardian book service on 030 333 6846 It was written in the autumn of 1843, during the hungry 40s, a prolonged period of depression and unemployment. [Dickens] was busy writing a novel, Martin Chuzzlewit, which was not selling well in serial form. He was also interesting himself in the condition of the country. He visited a ragged school, which offered basic education to street children - children with no parents, or neglectful ones, filthy children who sometimes missed lessons because they had been in prison, pickpockets, prostitutes - and he urged his rich friend Miss Coutts to support such schools. He spoke in support of the Mechanics' Institutes in the great industrial towns, set up to offer male and female workers libraries, lectures and some access to further education. He reacted with horror to the facts revealed in the report of the Children's Employment Commission, and planned "a very cheap pamphlet, called 'An Appeal to the People of England, on behalf of the Poor Man's Child'." The pamphlet was not written - instead he produced A Christmas Carol "'They are Man's,' the Spirit answered. 'This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both . . . but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is doom.'" Scrooge is so troubled by this that he asks, "Have they no refuge or resource?" And the Spirit answers him chillingly with his own words, "Are there no prisons? . . . Are there no workhouses?" To me this is the best moment in A Christmas Carol, as Dickens sends a resounding message to the governing powers of his day (and, we may add, to our times, when one child in six leaves school unable to read fluently). - Claire Tomalin
Kirkus Review
The beloved Christmas classic is skillfully adapted for this simplified introduction to the tale, amplified by large-format art from the illustrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Helquist's artistic style is an excellent match for the Dickensian world of mysterious spirits and spooky graveyards, and the illustrations are full of authentic Victorian details in costumes and settings. The extra-large trim size gives him plenty of room to depict the complex scenes of Scrooge's travels through time and space, and the artist succeeds in making him a believable character who transitions from a grouchy, gray grump to a jovial fellow ready to enjoy life. This abridgement makes the original story accessible to a wide age range and would be a fine preparation for families preparing to attend a theatrical production of A Christmas Carol. (Picture book. 7-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
